Dental Exam
Spokane, WA
Dental exams are extremely critical for your oral health as well as your overall health. Doctors believe that bacteria from the mouth can travel to other parts of your body and cause chronic diseases including heart disease, lung disease, stroke, diabetes, and hypertension. That is why at Dynamic Dental Care, we strongly recommend that you schedule a dental exam appointment with us.
When Should You Have Your First Dental Exam
Many people often take their kids or themselves to the dentist when they experience tooth pain or see a large cavity in a tooth. However, the American Dental Association strongly recommends that you should start getting dental exam appointments for your child once they erupt their very first tooth, typically at the age of six months.
Thereafter, they should keep their dental appointments regularly, ideally every six months.
What to Expect During a Dental Exam
A dental exam is a multi-step approach that ensures the health of your teeth, gums, and other areas of your mouth.
Medical History Review
At Dynamic Dental Care, we will first review your medical history to find out if you have been diagnosed with a medical condition. It is also helpful if you bring us a list of your medications and dosage. We do this to ensure that your condition or prescription medications do not interfere with any of the dental treatments. For example, issues like dry mouth result in increased oral bacteria and risk of cavities and gum disease.
Visual Exam
During the visual exam, we will shine a light in your mouth and look for any signs of dental problems like:
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Bleeding or swollen gums
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Cavities
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Problems with dental restorations
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Stains and discoloration
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Bite or the occlusion of the teeth
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Eroded or weakened enamel |
If you use tobacco or alcohol and are at high risk of oral cancer, we will conduct a more comprehensive visual exam to look for any suspicious signs like changes in the color of the mouth tissue, bleeding from areas of the mouth other than the gums, red and white patches, and other abnormal visual indications of cancerous or precancerous tissue. This is nothing to worry about since this is only a preventive measure.
Physical Exam
In a comprehensive dental exam, we may also use our fingers to check for lumps, bumps, or swollen nodes in your mouth, neck, and head region. We will look for symptoms like overly smooth tissue, rough tissue, and dry tissues in patients who have a high risk of oral cancer. This is nothing to worry about since this is only a preventive measure. It does not necessarily mean that you have or will have cancer.
X-rays
Depending on the health of your mouth, we may also recommend the use of x-rays. X-rays are very useful in diagnosing conditions that are not visible to the naked eye like cavities hidden between teeth, cracked tooth roots, cysts or damage in the jawbone, impacted teeth, or root abscess.
We also use digital x-rays that expose you to lower levels of radiation than traditional x-rays. These x-rays are safe, even for young children and pregnant women and we make sure to exercise all precautionary measures to ensure your body is exposed to as little radiation as possible.
Once we have finished your dental exam, we will formulate a personalized treatment plan for you.
Dental exams typically do not take very long and are the simplest and most cost-effective ways to prevent oral issues. If you want to schedule a dental exam with us, call us at (509) 466-2587 today. |
